Nationals catcher Paul Lo Duca addressed his inclusion in the Mitchell Report for the first time Saturday, acknowledging what he called “a mistake.”

At the New York Mets’ camp, Carlos Beltran said Lo Duca’s former team is the favorite in the NL East.

Lo Duca was among the more prominent players cited in baseball investigator George Mitchell’s report on drug use in the sport, which was released Dec. 13. That was two days after Washington announced it signed the former Mets backstop to a $5 million, one-year contract.

“You do something wrong in your life and you get away with it, you still have something inside you that burns,” Lo Duca said, his shoulders slumping and his fingers fidgeting with the folds of his orange T-shirt. “And, um, it’s been a big relief for me to know that I’ve come to grips with it. That I made a mistake.”

His name appears 37 times in the 409-page report, which said he received shipments of human growth hormone from – and put other players in touch with – admitted steroid distributor Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse employee. Radomski pleaded guilty in April.

Lo Duca was completely silent on the matter for more than two months. But Saturday, he issued a statement through the team in the morning, saying: “In regards to Senator Mitchell’s Report, I apologize … for mistakes in judgment I made in the past.”

Then he held a news conference shortly after arriving at Washington’s spring training facility in Viera, Fla., in the afternoon. Even then, Lo Duca was not very expansive.

Asked whether the Mitchell Report was accurate about him, Lo Duca said: “I’m not going to comment on that.”

When another reporter asked what he was apologizing for, Lo Duca replied, “Come on, bro’. Next question.”

It was reminiscent of New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi’s non-detailed apology in February 2005, a few months after it had been reported that he told a federal grand jury in 2003 he took steroids. At no point did Giambi explicitly say why he was apologizing, nor did he ever use the word “steroids.”

At Port St. Lucie, Fla., LHP Johan Santana’s first workout with the Mets had his teammates all pumped up – even the quiet Beltran.

The star center fielder reported to camp three days early and revealed he probably won’t be ready to play when spring training games start because he’s still rehabbing from Oct. 3 surgery on both knees.

That hardly put him in a sour mood, though. An upbeat Beltran spoke excitedly about the club’s new ace and had a right-back-at-you message for Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

“Let me tell you this: Without Santana, we felt as a team that we have a chance to win in our division. With him now, I have no doubt that we’re going to win in our division,” Beltran said. “So this year, to Jimmy Rollins – we are the team to beat!”

Of course, it was Rollins who boasted last offseason that his Phillies were the team to beat in the NL East, and they won the division.

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